1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inventive zoom lens and imaging apparatus. More specifically, the invention relates to a stabilized zoom lens in a small size which has about 4× magnification or greater suitable for use in a compact digital camera, and to an imaging apparatus which uses the stabilized zoom lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an imaging apparatus, such as a digital still camera, using a solid state imaging device is widely spreading. With the widespread use of such a digital still camera, it is demanded to create higher quality images. Particularly in a digital still camera with a large number of pixels, such a lens is desired; i.e. a taking lens with excellent image forming performance conforming to a solid state imaging device having a large number of pixels, particularly a thin zoom lens.
On the other hand, as an adverse effect of an imaging apparatus reduced in thickness and an imaging device with a large number of pixels, such a problem arises that an image tends to blur in taking a picture. An increasing demand is a high magnification zoom lens provided with a function of image stabilization.
In a zoom lens described in JP-A-2000-131610 (Patent Reference 1), such a digital still camera can be implemented that has a thickness of about 10 mm with about 3× optical magnification in which a prism that bends an optical path is inserted into an optical system to intend a reduction in size in the axial direction of incident light, that is, a reduction in thickness.
In addition, in a zoom lens described in JP-A-2005-181635 (Patent Reference 2), a second lens group, which is a variable magnification group, is configured of four lenses to achieve high variable magnification.